PRETORIA - Eyewitness News can reveal that Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza has been accused of attempting to mislead the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), but he's described his inaccurate comments in an affidavit as a bona fide error.

The High Court in Pretoria found last year that Ntlemeza lied under oath, misled the court and lacked integrity.

That ruling now forms the basis of an application to have his appointment as head of the unit set aside on grounds that he's unfit to hold the position.

Ntlemeza stated in a sworn affidavit that Booysen was party to the process to appoint his successor and that he was also interviewed as a candidate, but as Booysen pointed out in a supplementary affidavit, this claim is not true.

Ntlemeza filed a follow-up statement saying that he had signed an incorrect draft affidavit which included the error, without reading it.

Booysen says this explanation is incredulous and cannot be believed, considering that Ntlemeza is a Lieutenant-General who is the head of the Hawks and should know the gravity of deposing to an affidavit.

He says for Ntlemeza to claim that he did not read the affidavit makes a mockery of the legislation because this would become a convenient excuse for anyone lying under oath in written statements.